


Danny Zombie

by rayghosts



Series: Phic Phight 2020 [2]
Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Human, Gen, Ghosts, Horror, Phic Phight, Phic phight 2020, Species Swap
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-04
Updated: 2020-06-04
Packaged: 2021-03-01 02:41:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,256
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23464111
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rayghosts/pseuds/rayghosts
Summary: Based on Kimcat's Phic Phight prompt: "Reverse ghosts au. What would the odd ball rogues gallery be if they were human? Or perhaps Phantom turned Fenton? How would the human cast be as ghosts?"aka emo teens befriend a dead person
Series: Phic Phight 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1690195
Comments: 11
Kudos: 87
Collections: Phic Phight!





	1. a concert to corpses

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Kimcat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kimcat/gifts).



The teenager climbed over the cemetary gates and dropped onto the ground on the other side, being careful not to break her guitar. Not many people found comfort in the burial park, but Ember McLain was not most people. She had decided early on that she was going to be a rockstar. Whenever she found herself stuck on a song, she found that coming to this place helped her clear her mind. She held her guitar in front of her and gazed across the moonlit graves.

_In the middle of the night, in a lonely cemetary_

_Under the gaze of the moonlight, a place that's just for me._

Was that too goth to use as lyrics? She strummed her guitar softly and was about to try working out a melody, but she paused when she heard something. Moaning coming from behind that tree. She walked over to it and looked around. "Ew, gross," she said with a grimace.

The couple who was making out hastily stopped. They blushed, not expecting to get caught, before Johnny glared at Ember and asked, "What are you doing here?"

"What are _you_ doing here?" Ember countered. She smirked and added, "Honestly, I thought you'd be too scared to step foot here at night."

Johnny huffed, but Kitty cut in and explained, "There's no better place for privacy than an empty graveyard...or so we thought."

Ember rolled her eyes and stepped back from their make-out spot. "Whatever," she told them. "I just hope the dead are fine with you two fucking over their graves."

"Like you're one to talk," Johnny retorted. "Playing a concert to corpses?"

Johnny must have meant it as an insult, but Ember thought that sounded like a badass song title. She was about to tell him as such when Kitty suddenly shuddered. "It's cold," she commented.

Johnny gave Kitty a flirty smile that made Ember want to punch his face in. "You want to borrow my jacket?" he smoothly asked.

But Kitty didn't say that as romantic bait. Ember shivered as she, too, felt the cold growing around them. She slung her guitar onto her back and hugged her arms just as the wind picked up. And it picked up strong. Ember had to plant her boots into the soil to keep herself from being buffetted by the gust. Before her, Johnny and Kitty held onto each other.

"A storm?" Kitty exclaimed over the whistle.

Something wasn't right, though. The wind seemed to be converging into one swirling spot right inside this graveyard. Ember turned to face the direction the wind was moving to, her brown hair flying around in her vision. All of a sudden, despite the lack of clouds in the sky, a bolt of blinding green lightning flashed down and neatly struck one grave.

The afterimage of the flash was still lingering in her eyes when the whirlwind faded as quickly as it had started. A split second later, she felt the pressure drop and the breath leave her lungs, as if the earth was sucking up all the air. She shielded her eyes as a second flash of light appeared in the same spot (and this time, she could swear it came _from_ the grave) before the air finally settled back to normal.

Seconds passed. Nobody spoke.

"What the fuck just happened?" Johnny finally broke the silence by saying.

Ember said nothing, only stared at the grave where the lightning had struck. Gingerly, she picked up her feet and began to walk toward it.

"Where are you going?" Kitty called to her. Ember glanced over her shoulder and found the other girl still in Johnny's hold, her dyed hair sticking out wildly from being abused by the wind. She was staring at her with wide, scared eyes.

Ember gulped and kept going. She was now close enough to the grave to make out the name etched onto the tombstone: DANIEL FENTON.

Ember stopped in front of the mound and realized she had no idea what she was doing. Nothing peculiar was evident in the grave, nothing to suggest that it had been hit by the strangely green lightning.

Then--a hand broke through the soil.

A scream rang behind her, one you would expect to come from Kitty but was actually from Johnny. Not that Ember could judge, considering she jumped ten feet in the air and backed away in bewilderment as the hand--the human hand sticking out of a grave--fumbled around for a grip and began to pull the rest of its body out.

Ember removed the guitar from around her shoulders and held it in her hands like a baseball bat, watching the living corpse with baited breath. The soil shuddered, then parted as a dirt-specked head poked through. Black hair, pale skin, and sunken eyes. The eyelids fluttered open, revealing eyes that were as green and radiant as the light from before. Eyes that stared at Ember.

Ember screamed and swung her guitar at him.

The head bobbed in place comically for a second before it fell limp onto the earth. Ember dropped her guitar/weapon and scampered back. Now that the undead boy was unconscious, Johnny and Kitty gathered up enough courage to approach the grave and stand by Ember's side.

"What the fuck," Ember heard Johnny mutter over and over under his breath.

Ember tensed her muscles to keep them from shaking. Slowly, she moved back closer to the grave. When the body didn't stir, she dropped to her knees and observed him closer. His nostrils were flaring, air coming in and out. Breathing. Somehow, alive. Just to make sure, she tentatively held out a shaking hand and pressed it against his wrist. Her fingers were met with a soft but steady beat.

"He's alive," she said, unable to believe it.

" _How?_ " Kitty asked, voicing the question that was in all their heads. "We just saw him crawl out of a grave."

"I--I dont know."

Ember watched the boy...Daniel Fenton? breathing softly. He looked so young and peaceful, it was hard to imagine he had ever been dead. Ember tightened her grip on the boy's wrist. Then she stood up and started to pull him the rest of the way out.

"Hey! What are you doing?" Johnny exclaimed. "That's literally a zombie."

"He's not a zombie," Ember replied with a grunt as she tugged him out of the earth. "Zombies are dead."

"Alive or not, there's no way that guy's a human. I mean--" He gestured wildly to the grave and then added, "I swear, this is how horror movies start. Don't blame me if he eats our brains when he wakes up."

Ember set Daniel on the ground and knelt next to him. She didn't understand what was happening, or how he could be alive after crawling out a grave, but she couldn't just leave him inside a grave. He couldn't have been any older than 14, a year younger than she was. As she observed him, she saw color seep into his pale cheeks, hiding the idea that he had ever been anything but alive and healthy. For a second, she found herself doubting whether she had imagined his grave, but a quick glance over her shoulder told her that the dug-up grave was still there, and a second look at Johnny and Kitty's expressions assured her it was no dream.

The boy stirred, making Ember jerk in surprise. She watched as he inhaled, then dissolved into a coughing fit.

"Are you okay?" she reflexively asked, then realized after she said it how ridiculous the question must have sounded after she had whacked him in the head.

Daniel's eyes flew open, revealing icy blue irises. That was weird. Ember could have sworn they were green before.

He took in a breath, then another, as if he was new to the sensation of breathing. He stared at Ember, then down at himself. He lifted one hand, then set it back down on the grass, touching the blades of plant with his fingers. Finally, he spoke in a soft voice and said, "It worked."

Ember wasn't sure what she expected him to say. Actually, she wasn't sure she expected him to speak at all, so hearing him say those two words startled her. "What worked?" she questioned.

He looked at her as if he only just noticed she was there, but he ignored her question. Instead, he tried to lift himself into a sitting position. In the corner of Ember's vision, she saw Johnny take several steps back as Daniel moved.

It took him multiple attempts to sit up. Each time he pushed himself on his arms, they buckled under his weight, and he fell back. Finally, Ember felt too sorry for him and offered him a hand. Daniel's eyes slightly widened when he touched her skin, and he flexed his fingers in the air after she let go.

Kitty, who was apparently braver than her boyfriend, stepped toward the boy and asked, "Who are you?" After a moment's hesitation, she added, "Is your name Daniel Fenton?"

He looked up at her in surprise, then noticed the empty grave behind her with his name on it. "Oh. Yeah," he said. "It's Danny."

"Danny," Ember said, testing the name on her tongue. "What were you doing inside a grave?"

Again, he didn't answer her. Instead, he asked, "Where am I?"

"Uh. Amity Park's cemetary."

"That's in the human world, right?"

The question caught her by surprise. "The...human world?"

"I knew it!" Johnny exclaimed. "This guy isn't human. Come on, Kitty, we're leaving."

Kitty looked like she was about to argue, but just then, the sound of tires on gravel was heard, and all teens turned toward the cemetary's entrance. In the night's darkness, they couldn't see the car or the person who came out very well, but they could see the beam of flashlight he held that roved across the yard.

Kitty cursed and muttered, "It's Walker." Then she joined her boyfriend in running away.

"Walker?" Danny asked. "What's a Walker? Is it bad?"

"Walker is a cop," Ember explained, "and yes, he's bad."

Ember turned to scram as well, but then she heard scuffling in the dirt and turned back to see Danny still struggling to pick himself up. He was new to all the tendons and ligaments in his limbs and the body mass he had to carry. Ember glanced at the cemetary gates, where the flashlight was bobbing closer, then back at Danny doing a good impression of the worm. Finally, she sighed, hooked an arm under his armpits and picked him up. He felt light and fragile in her grip.

"Come on, ghost boy," she said and dragged him with her to the back edge of the graveyard.

They reached the wall just in time to see Kitty disappear over the edge. Ember paused at the foot and looked up. She could probably climb over fine, but how was she supposed to carry Danny over?

Fortunately for her, she felt Danny's weight lighten at that moment and turned her head sideway to see he had finally learned to stand up on his own. He stood facing the wall, his arm still around Ember's shoulders. Ember thought she imagined a sudden chill spread from his hand through her body. A tingling sensation enveloped her. Then, with surprising strength for someone who couldn't push himself off the ground, Danny pushed them both toward the wall.

Ember yelped and closed her eyes, sure she was going to hit her face any second now. She went forward, but the impact didn't come. Cautiously, she opened her eyes again, then had to blink them several times to make sure she wasn't imagining things. Both she and Danny were on the other side of the wall.

"What--" She looked at their surroundings, which was very much _not_ the cemetary, then craned her head around to look behind them, where the wall was still very much there. Her eyes landed on Danny, and her heart skipped a beat as she saw, for a second, his eyes glow a faint green before dimming back to blue.

"You--How?" After stammering for a while, she said, "What _are_ you?"

Danny met her eyes with a puzzled expression. "I thought you knew. You said it yourself." Before Ember could ask him what he meant, he gestured to himself and said, "Ghost boy."

It took all of Ember's willpower not to faint then and there.

Danny glanced behind, then back at Ember. "Walker bad?" he said.

"Uh..." She shook herself back into alertness and said, "Yeah. Walker bad."

They kept fleeing.

There were two problems. One was that Ember's house was pretty far from the cemetary. The long walk between here and there had never bothered her, but that was before she had a ghost-turned-zombie shuffling by her side with Walker possibly on their tail. At the rate they were going, a snail could probably catch them easily.

Ember heard a pained moan come from Danny. That was the other problem. Despite how healthy he had seemed back in the graveyard, now his breath was ragged and his head was slicked with sweat. Ember looked down at him and saw his face turn green.

"You okay?"

Danny nodded, but he didn't look very okay. "Fine. I just need..." He trailed off before he could finish the sentence and gagged. Ember realized what was coming and quickly jumped away from him, and not a moment too soon. Danny bent over and vomited.

"What in the--?" Ember was really hoping she was done seeing the strangest that this day had to offer, but when she looked at the pavement, Danny's emptied stomach content was a glowing, lime green goo.

Danny's face stopped being the shade of guacamole, but it went back to being pale. His eyes were faint green under his half-closed eyelids. "Ah," he said. "My soul is still adjusting." Then he began to sway.

Ember caught him before his body could hit the floor. Her boot accidentally stepped into the puddle of vomit-goo, which disgusted her to no end, but now was not the time to worry about that. Even though Danny was light, she didn't think she could carry him all the way to her home. She glanced around at their surroundings, and relief flooded through her when she recognized the neighborhood. One of her classmates lived here. One who was fortunately too nice to turn down helping someone.

Ember dragged Danny to one of the houses, which was identical to every other in the neighborhood except for the adress. She rang the doorbell and waited. A minute later, the door opened, revealing a scrawny male teenager with huge glasses, buck teeth, and an upturned nose. "Ember?" he said, then noticed the unconscious boy in her arms. "Wh--"

Ember jammed herself through the opening and forced herself into his house, closing the door behind her. "Hey, Poindexter," she greeted. "Think I need to crash here for a while."

Sidney Poindexter glared at her, but he didn't refuse. "What did you do this time?" he said, then his gaze landed on Danny, and his eyes widened. "Wait--you didn't mug him, did you?"

"Nah, he was already dead."

" _He's dead?!_ "

"Sort of. It's a long story."

"Hold up!" Sidney waved his arms wildly and declared, "I might do your homework for you, but that doesn't mean i'll help you cover up a murder!"

"I didn't murder him! Like I said, he's only sort of dead."

"What is that supposed to mean?!"

Ember set Danny on a couch. A trickle of green ran from his mouth, probably still there from his stomach purge. "Honestly, I'm not sure."

"You're not making any sense. Who _is_ he?"

Ember looked at Sidney, who was waiting for an explanation with his arms crossed, as if that would intimidate her. She sighed and plopped herself onto the couch next to the unconscious sort-of-dead person. "Danny. Daniel Fenton. It was written on his grave."

"...His what?"

"Yep," Ember said, popping the 'P.' "He climbed out of a grave."

Sidney was speechless for a moment. "...He what."

Sidney came over to the couch and looked down at the body, noticing for the first time the soil that sprinkled his form. He raised his eyebrows at Ember. "This is a prank, right? It's not very funny."

"It's not a prank," Ember assured.

"So, what, you expect me to believe that this person came out a grave _alive_ \--or half-alive--and you brought him to _my house?_ "

Hearing Sidney say it like that, it did sound awfully stupid. Ember sunk into the couch and sheepishly said, "Yeah...I'm not sure why I did that."

"This isn't funny," he repeated. "Who is he really?"

"I already told you. Danny Fenton."

"That can't be him, because the Fentons are dead!"

Ember looked up at Sidney. "You knew the Fentons?"

Sidney hesitated and shifted on his feet. "My grandma did. She said they were the city's whackos. They were obsessed with ghosts, even tried to build a portal in their basement, but I guess they failed because their house blew up and they died. A couple and two kids."

Ember let that information sink in. A portal into the ghost world. Now Danny had come from there to the human world. She remembered his first words in the graveyard: _It worked._ Could his parents, as ghosts, have completed their portal in the afterlife and somehow sent their son here?

"Okay, this is gonna sound crazy, but..." She told him her theory.

"That's prepostorous," Sidney said once she was done.

"I don't know, man. This whole day has been preposterous."

"You're telling me--" he pointed at Danny--"that this guy is a ghost. But he doesn't _look_ like a ghost."

"That's because he got resurrected...or something. I'm not sure."

Sidney looked like he was about to make another argument, but whatever words he was about to say were cut off by a gasp.

Ember felt the couch beneath her shift as Danny's weight lifted itself off. By that, I mean it really did lift--the boy had righted himself into a standing position suspended in the air, a foot off the sofa. When he opened his eyes, they were bright green again.

At this point, Ember had come to expect the unexpected from Danny, so she was fairly calm about him hovering in mid-air. However, Sidney was staring at him wide-eyed and slack-jawed. Danny knitted his brows, as if he was confused by Sidney's shock. He looked down at himself, then understanding dawned on him and he looked back up and said, "Oh, right. Humans can't fly, right?"

Sidney opened his mouth and closed it several times wordlessly before he finally stammered out, "G-g-ghost."

Danny settled himself neatly down onto the couch, and his eyes returned to blue. He frowned. "Well, I'm supposed to be a human now, but apparently I'm still part ghost. Maybe I'm somewhere in between. Half a human, half a ghost."

"Great," Sidney said with a gulp. "You're a halfa."

Ember raised an eyebrow. "Halfa? Really? You couldn't have come up with a more creative word for hybrid?"

Sidney ignored her, instead turning his attention to the so-called halfa. "What do you want from us?" he demanded with narrowed eyes. "Are you going to kill us to expand your undead kingdom in the ghost world? Will you take over the living realm as your own?" He hugged himself protectively and questioned, "You're not going to steal our bodies, will you?"

Danny seemed amused by Sidney's suggestions. "No. I'm not the ghost king. I'm not doing any of that."

"Then what do you plan to do?"

Danny turned his gaze down like he was mulling it over. "I just want to live," he finally said.

For a long moment, there was silence except for the soft ticking of the grandfather clock from the hall.

Sidney hesitantly broke the silence by asking, "You're really Daniel Fenton?"

Danny shifted in his seat, but he nodded. "Just Danny is fine."

Sidney collapsed onto an armchair in the living room and rested his head in his hands. "Right. This is normal. Totally normal."

Ember studied Danny. He looked better now--his breath was even, and he wasn't vomiting any slime--though his skin was still a shade paler than what is generally considered healthy. Maybe that was normal for a halfa. She thought back on the night, which felt like a week long. All she had expected to do that night was play some guitar...

"Fuck," Ember said a little louder than necessary. The two boys turned their attention to her. Ember despaired and said, "I forgot my guitar at the cemetary."

Sidney raised his eyebrows at her. "You met a dead person, and that's what you worry about? You can go get it back in the morning."

"You don't understand. Walker's gonna see a dug-up grave and my guitar and think I robbed a grave."

"Well, I mean..." He jabbed a thumb at Danny and said, "You did take something with you."

Ember didn't find that very funny, but Danny laughed. A soft and cheerful laugh. She saw the boy smiling and felt just a little bit less angry.

"Oh, that reminds me," Danny said, and he turned in his seat to face Sidney. "You don't happen to have a way to contact the ghost zone, do you?"


	2. salt and silver diner

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> tbh i dont have a plot in mind for this fic, im just writing whatever bs pops into my head

Walker trudged into the cemetary. It was the dead of night, pun unintended, and he carried a flashlight to provide him better light than the dim full moon. He had received complaints from the surrounding residents about a strange occurence here: a flash of light, a sudden storm. To him, that sounded like a load of crap, but more than one person had witnessed it, so he had no choice but to investigate.

The flashlight's beam caught a group of teenagers up the hill, standing among a row of graves. As soon as they noticed him, they began to flee--two at first, then another pair trailing after. "Hey!" Walker called and picked up his pace, but he was too late. The four troublemakers had already made it to the opposite wall by the time he reached the grave they were ransacking.

Walker stopped and turned his flashlight down over the grave. He let out a disapproving tsk at what he saw. Whoever those teens were, (and he had an idea; he was familiar with all the troublemakers in town,) they had undoubtedly robbed the grave. A deep hole was dug in the mound, almost as if somebody had climbed out from inside the grave. Walker chuckled at that image. As if zombies were real.

The cop shone his flashlight down the hole. At first, he was met with nothingness, which was odd. Surely the graverobbers couldnt have taken the whole corpse with them, could they? Then, something stirred. Walker nearly dropped his flashlight in surprise, but he caught it and kneeled over the open grave to get a better look.

Nothing.

Walker exhaled. He was not a superstitious man, but this place gave him the creeps. He stood up, and as he did, his foot knocked against something. He looked down and grinned. A guitar--and a familiar one at that. He was sure the owner's parents would enjoy a nice chat with him.

He bent down to pick up the instrument, and that was when it happened. Toxic green light gradually grew from the grave and intensified until everything was shed in chartreuse. Walker momentarily forgot about the guitar, whipping his head back to face the grave.

It wasn't so empty anymore. When he peeked inside again, a swirling vortex of green... _something_...had filled it up. The light it produced was so bright it painted the soil a sickly green. Walker's jaw hung loose as he gawked, trying to make sense of what he was seeing. Just then, something rose out of the vortex--or rather, someone.

He was a tall man in a white suit and sunglasses hiding his eyes, but what really caught Walker's attention was the fact that he was glowing. If one stared at him hard enough, his skin appeared transparent, and Walker thought he saw his skull underneath his face. Oh, yeah, and he was floating in the middle of the air above the portal he had come through.

The man, _whatever_ he was, looked down at Walker, and goosebumps broke out on his flesh. He picked up his jaw long enough to ask, "Who... _What_ are--"

He couldn't finish his sentence before the creature lunged at him. Walker held his arms up to protect himself, but it didn't do anything, because he wasn't attacked. Instead, the man--the _ghost_ \--had entered his body.

Walker's entire body shuddered. He felt his mind being pushed into nothingness as whatever was inside him wrested control. He desperately tried to cling to his consciousness, but it was no use. When he opened his eyes, he wasn't Walker anymore.

Operative's eyes glowed red. He flexed his borrowed neck and smiled.

Sidney woke up on 6 AM, like he did everyday. The alarm clock was ringing by his bedside, and he rolled in bed and slammed the top until it quieted. His eyes fluttered open. Blue eyes stared at him.

"Jiminy Cricket!" he blurted and fell off his bed.

"Jiminy Cricket?" Danny echoed. "What year were you born in?"

Sidney glared up at him from his spot upside down on the floor. The halfa was standing in Sidney's bedroom, wearing his borrowed clothes after Sidney had insisted he take a shower last night to remove all that creepy dirt on his body. He looked more alive than he had yesterday, almost normal even, though he was still pale.

"Says the guy who died forty years ago," Sidney grumbled and righted himself. He glanced at the halfa again and asked, "Didn't sleep?"

Danny slowly shook his head. "Dreams...are scary."

Sidney raised an eyebrow. Now that he looked at those blue eyes again, he noticed they seemed pretty bloodshot. "Not all dreams are scary," he said. "For example, I was just having a wonderful dream about standing up to _Aragon_."

"Who's Aragon?"

"This bully in school," Sidney said, and the way he mentioned the word "bully" made it sound like the worst insult possible. "His real name is Aaron, but he thinks calling himself Aragon is _edgier_ or whatever. He thinks that just because he's rich, he's so much better than everyone else." He shook his head and added, "What about you? What dream is so scary you couldn't sleep?"

Danny didn't reply. He averted his eyes and focused on a corner.

Sidney sighed. Once again, he wondered why he was even letting him stay at his house. Curse that Ember for dropping him here. _Hey, Poindexter! Here's this undead guy I found in the middle of the cemetary. I'll just drop him in your house and then leave!_

He can't say he doesn't understand her reasoning, though. Ember's parents would never let her sneak a boy in her house, but Sidney's grandmother was barely aware of what was going on around her. One time he managed to keep a cat inside for an entire month, and she had no idea. (The cat's name was Gene Kelly, and he escaped when Sidney left the window open one day.)

"Well, you're a human now, and humans need to sleep," Sidney told him. "Eight hours a day. Then again, you _are_ only part human, so I'm not sure if you need that much...um, what are you doing?"

Danny had lost interest in whatever Sidney was saying and had started rummaging around his room. Sidney got up and stopped him before he could pull open his underwear drawer. "Hey, just because I'm letting you stay over in my room doesn't mean you're free to search through my stuff! What are you searching for, anyway?"

"I told you yesterday," Danny said. "I need to make a call."

"The phone is right there, in case you haven't noticed," Sidney retorted and pointed at the telephone on his desk. But Danny shook his head.

"Phones can't contact the dead. Don't you have a ouija board? A crystal ball?"

Sidney's eyebrows rose to his scalp. "No? I'm not really into witchcraft. Maybe Desiree might have that stuff."

"Who's she?"

"A neighbor. But I'm not taking you to see her."

"Why not?"

"Because," Sidney said, "I need to go to school, and I don't trust you enough to let you roam around town unsupervised. How do I know you won't eat anyone's brains or anything?"

Danny huffed. "Why does everyone keep mistaking me for a zombie? I'm a ghost."

"You're a walking dead person who crawled out of his grave, that's why. Now can you just...stay put while I get ready for school?"

"School?" Danny asked, sounding interested.

Sidney rolled his eyes. "Yes, school. You know, where you learn stuff? I'm pretty sure those existed around your time."

"Of course I know what a school is," Danny replied, then hesitantly added, "Can I come?"

Sidney blinked. "You...want to come to school?"

Danny shrugged. "I'm curious about what new stuff students are learning since I was gone."

Despite himself, Sidney grinned. "I didn't know you were a fellow nerd."

"I'm not a nerd," Danny said, blushing. Sidney laughed and patted his shoulder.

"Don't worry, buddy. Being a nerd is actually pretty cool these days."

"You're joking, right?"

"Nope. Dungeons and Dragons is hot. Star Trek is mainstream. You have a lot to catch up on."

Danny didn't look like he believed him, which only made Sidney laugh more. "Come on, I'll bring you to school."

Casper High hadn't changed much in forty years, although the student body did grow. Some of the students cast curious glances at Danny as Sidney led him through the crowded hallways, but they didn't say anything. Well, except for one.

"Who do we have here?" a voice purred. Sidney groaned and turned to face the speaker.

"Hey, Aragon," he greeted with a strained smile.

Aragon looked...not as intimidating as Danny expected. He was thin, with a pimple-ridden face and greasy hair, but his sneer was enough to signify that he was a bad guy.

Aragon sized up Danny and said, "I haven't seen you around."

"This is Danny, my, uh...cousin," Sidney lied. "He's..."

"Homeschooled," Danny supplied. "But I'm curious about what regular schools are like, so Sidney offered to show me around his school." He lied so effortlessly that Sidney wondered if he had practiced it beforehand.

Aragon snickered. "Homeschooled? That's probably because you're too wimpy to be around other kids. Hey, Poindexter, why don't you join your cousin at home? It's not like anyone will miss you."

Sidney bristled. He thought of numerous insults he could throw at the bully, and he almost might have said one out loud, but then Danny spoke up and said, "You're not scary."

Aragon blinked. "Excuse me? My dad can probably buy your dad's company."

"I doubt that," Danny muttered.

Aragon bristled and almost said something back, but then a girl came and rested a hand on his shoulder. "Leave them alone, Aaron," she told him.

Sidney smiled when he saw it was Dora. He loved Dora--she was basically the anti-Aragon, kind to everyone. She caught his eyes and smiled back.

Aragon shrugged her hand away and scowled. "Fuck off, Dora. I'm pretty sure that guy just insulted me."

"He just said you aren't scary," Dora said, "which is true."

Sidney snorted. Aragon turned on him, but before he could speak, his condescending posture dissolved at the sight of a woman coming up to them. "Miss Pandora!" he said, suddenly sounding polite.

The tallest human Danny had ever seen stood over them with her hands on her hips. "What's going on here?"

"Nothing," Aragon told her, and he actually wrapped his arm amiably around Danny's shoulders and said with a smile, "We were just greeting Sidney's cousin here."

She raised her eyebrow and noticed Danny. "Cousin, eh?"

"He's homeschooled," Sidney said helpfully.

"Well, then! It's very nice of you to show him around." The teacher smiled at Aragon, and it took Sidney considerable effort not to roll his eyes. Pandora added, "Maybe you can let him take a lesson with you. Class is just about to start, you know."

"Yes, ma'am," Aragon said with a white-toothed smile and saluted her. Pandora passed them, and as soon as she turned a corner and left, Aragon pushed Danny away from him.

"Have fun at school, fuckhead," he said and laughed. He left, and Dora turned to him with a grimace.

"I'm sorry about my brother," she apologized.

Danny shrugged. "He's...interesting."

"What the fuck!"

The three teens turned to see Johnny standing in the hallway, glaring at Danny with his jaw agape. He strode to him, then jabbed a finger at his chest and demanded, "What are _you_ doing in my school?"

"Stop that," Dora said. "Why is everyone intent on bullying the visitor?"

Johnny stared at her with disbelief written all over his face. "You don't know what he is, do you?"

Dora looked confused, but Danny just smiled and said, "Hey, Johnny. Thanks for helping me last night."

Johnny scoffed. "I didn't help you. That was all Ember."

"True, but at least you didn't stop her."

"I'm sorry, what's happening?" Dora asked, glancing between them.

Johnny scowled and said, "He's a zombie."

"Ghost, actually," Danny corrected.

Dora stared at them for a moment, and then she burst with laughter. Johnny raised his eyebrows and saw her with a hand over her mouth, eyes crinkled humorously. "Ghost! Ha ha."

Johnny frowned and said, "It's not--"

"It's a very funny joke!" Sidney interrupted. "I bet he even crawled out his grave."

He smirked at Dora as he said this, and Dora laughed harder. Sidney felt Johnny's eyes boring into him, but thankfully, the school bell chose that moment to ring. Dora wiped tears from her eyes and said to Danny, "Have a nice day, ghost boy."

"Will do," Danny replied with a toothy grin.

Dora left, but Johnny stuck behind. He sent a glare at Danny and stated, "I don't trust the undead." Then he turned to Sidney and added, "You shouldn't, either."

The way his eyes bore into him made goosebumps break out on Sindney's skin. Finally, Johnny turned and left, his shadow trailing behind him.

"What a great guy," Danny said after he was gone. Sidney tried to study his expression, but Danny was wearing an unreadably simple smile, and his hands were in his pockets. Danny's blue eyes met Sidney. "So, where's your class?"

_Fuck_ , Ember thought as she sped down the hallway. She was late for class and Ms. Pandora was gonna kill her. She turned a corner, then stopped so suddenly she almost slipped on the linoleum floor.

The man in front of her turned around. He was wearing sunglasses indoors for some reason. On his chest sat a sherrif badge, and in his hand was her guitar. She had no idea what was with the glasses, but it obviously wasn't enough to stop her from recognizing him, nor quell her anxiety at his presence.

"You," he grunted, which erased any chance she had of escaping unnoticed.

Ember gulped and waved nervously. "Heyyy, Sheriff Walker. What are you doing here?"

Walker held forward her guitar. "Is this yours?"

 _Oh boy_. Ember began to explain, "I swear, I didn't rob that grave. Heck, why would I even be in the graveyard? I don't know how this got there, you must have seen someone else--"

Walker ignored her and shoved the guitar at her. Then, to her surprise, he said, "Take it. I have no interest in it."

Walker? Letting someone go when he had a chance to arrest them? Ember eyed him and asked, "Who are you and what have you done to Walker?"

She had meant it as a joke, but the way he stiffened made her reconsider the truth of her statement. He said, "I don't care what happens to you, human," which Ember thought was a strange choice of words, "I only wish to know where the escapee is."

"The what?"

Walker (if that even was him) turned his attention away from her and focused on the hallway behind her. Now that Ember listened, she heard footsteps approach. She turned around and saw Sidney and...was that Danny? What was he doing in school?

Danny seemed to freeze up at the sight of Walker. Maybe it was her imagination, but she thought she saw his breath turn to mist as it escaped his mouth, which shouldn't have been possible because it wasn't cold enough inside the building. His eyes widened.

When she looked back at who may or may not have been Walker, she saw his face stretched in an unnerving grin. He walked around her and strode toward Danny, who somehow got stiffer the closer Walker got to him.

Ember didn't understand what was going on, but she knew enough to be able to tell that this not-Walker was bad news (yes, even worse than the real Walker) and that Danny seemed to be, for whatever reason, in danger. She shoved herself between not-Walker and Danny and said, "So, Sheriff, how's life?"

Not-Walker growled and shoved her away. Yep, that definitely was not Walker. Danny saw that he wasn't stopping and began to run away, but not-Walker grabbed his arm and tugged him back.

It didn't feel right, seeing the undead guy look so scared. Ember barely thought about her next action. She looked down at her guitar, remembered how good a weapon it made when she whacked Danny in the head last night, and swung it at the back of not-Walker's head. Not-Walker grunted and let go of Danny. His glasses fell to the floor, and when he turned around to glare at her, she froze--because his eyes were as red as blood. Ember was fairly certain that Walker's eyes were supposed to be green.

"Ember, get away! He's a ghost!" Danny warned.

Ember stared wide-eyed at Danny, and that was long enough for not-Walker's fist to connect with her gut and send her toppling backward. He didn't just punch her--he also sent a strange beam of green light that made her body buzz with electricity and sent her skidding across the hallway. She fell over and clutched her stomach, wheezing. She weakly raised her head enough to watch not-Walker grab Danny again and lift him up by his neck. Sidney was next to them, but he looked too paralyzed to help, and Ember was in too much pain to get up.

"Danny Phantom--" _Danny Phantom?_ "--I see you're alive," not-Walker said with a sneer.

Danny quit struggling in not-Walker's grip long enough to gulp. "Alive? Nah. I'm just overshadowing someone, like you are."

"You think you can lie to me? I know what overshadowing senses like. You're alive." His cheeks looked like they were pulled back by invisible strings into a cruel smirk, and he added, "But if you're really only borrowing this body, then I suppose killing it won't do anything to you, would it?"

His grip around Danny's neck tightened, and Danny's struggling became strained. Why couldn't he just go intangible? Sidney looked like he finally snapped out of his paralysis, and he ran forward to help Danny with a yell of, "Let him go!" Unfortunately, he was quickly pushed back by the same weird light that attacked Ember.

"You're mortals," not-Walker growled. "You don't understand the laws that govern ghosts. The dead stay dead. Ressurecting oneself is a major crime--against the laws of the Ghost Zone and the laws of nature."

Cool, so it wasn't Walker, but he sure as hell was equally obsessed with arresting people. Or, well...executing them was more like it, if he continued to squeeze Danny's throat any longer. (Re-executing? What would happen if you die a second time?)

Ember gritted her teeth and pushed herself up. She may have only known Danny for less than a day, but there was no way she was letting the weirdest friend she'd had disappear so soon after she met him.

Without a second thought, she ran up to not-Walker, ignoring the pain in her gut, and shouted, "Hey, dipstick!" Not-Walker turned around but did not have time to prepare when her boot swung up and connected with his crotch.

Not-Walker cringed. Ember wasn't sure if the ghost was able to feel pain from inside Walker's body (probably not, because she was confident in the power of her kick) but the shock of being kicked in the private part was enough to loosen his grip on Danny. Danny, now able to breathe, took this opportunity to thrust his hand into not-Walker's face, and before she could blink, a bright burst of green light not unlike not-Walker's own attacks was released from his palm and roasted Walker's face.

Apparently, the ghost did feel pain from that, because he yowled and let go of Danny. Danny didn't waste any time after he landed before grabbing Ember and Sidney by the arms and sprinting down the hallway and around a corner, away from not-Walker's sight.

Danny kept running, pulling the two humans behind him. She didn't know how long they went--lockers and windows passed by in a blur--before he apparently thought they were far enough from the ghost possessing Walker and let go of their arms to slump on the floor and pant.

"Okay, what was that?" Sidney demanded.

"Yeah, and why did that guy call you Danny Phantom?" Ember added.

Danny didn't answer them at first, still catching his breath. Finally, he gulped and said, "So, that was the ghost police."

"I kind of figured," Ember said, remembering the ghost's words. "Resurrecting yourself is illegal?"

"Of course it is," Sidney said, staring at Danny, and Ember thought she saw a hint of wildness in his eyes. "It's unnatural! You're supposed to be dead!"

Danny flinched. Ember bit her lip and placed a hand on Sidney's shoulder. "Hey, man. What's done is done. Danny's alive now."

Sidney kept huffing for a moment before he covered his face with a hand and sighed. "No. I know. It's just...I wasn't expecting to be a attacked by a ghost-possessed Walker today."

"I mean, you did bring Danny to school," Ember pointed out. "Why did you bring Danny to school?"

"I asked to come," Danny answered.

"Why would you want to come to school? Are you a nerd?"

Danny looked about to argue, but then Sidney spoke up, "That's not important. That ghost inside Walker is still around. How do we get rid of him?"

Danny hummed thoughtfully. "Usually, in the Ghost Zone, we just duke it out with ghost powers, but I don't think that would work when I'm part human."

It was then that Ember finally noticed the way Danny was cradling his hands tenderly. She looked at his palm and saw it filled with slightly greenish blisters. Danny caught her looking and covered his palms, but she had already seen them. Guess that ghostly light attack was too hot for a human body to handle.

"Then what do we do?" Sidney asked.

Danny shrugged. "Maybe...are there myths about ghost weaknesses? Usually those have a little truth in them."

"What, you mean like, sprinkle salt on him?" Ember said with a raised eyebrow.

"Maybe," Danny said. "I--"

Whatever he was about to say was cut off when a blur came through the wall behind them, grabbed Danny, and went through the opposite wall. Ember and Sidney both stared slack-jawed as they tried to make sense of what just happened.

"Ghost," Sidney said.

"Salt," Ember said. "I'll go to the cafeteria."

"I think I also have something that might help," Sidney said. "I'll go get that."

There was no time for Ember to ask what thing Sidney had that might work against a ghost. The two teens separated and ran down different directions, Ember to the school cafeteria. She arrived to find it empty apart from the lunch lady behind the counter.

The lunch lady was humming to herself as she cooked...whatever the fuck school lunches were supposed to be. Ember tried to crouch near the wall and sneak into the kitchen. If she was lucky, she could grab the salt and dash without any confrontation...but she had no suck luck.

The humming stopped, and Lunch Lady said, "What are you doing outside of class?"

Ember closed her eyes and silently muttered a few curses before standing up in front of Lunch Lady with a smile. "Sorry. I just wanted to grab some salt...for a lab experiment."

"Salt? We have salt," Lunch Lady said sweetly.

"Great! I'd love some, please."

Lunch Lady grabbed a salt container, and Ember reached out for it eagerly, but the woman held it back with a frown. "If it's for a science class, why were you trying to sneak past me?"

"Me? Sneaking? I would never," Ember said, her smile straining. "I just thought it would be quicker...you know...so I don't waste any class time."

"Of course your teachers wouldn't want you to waste class time. That's why they're supposed to bring their own materials for experiments. I talked to them about that last year."

Ember winced. "They...forgot?" When Lunch Lady seemed unconvinced, Ember brought her hands together in a pleading gesture and said, "Please, I just want some salt. It won't even be long. I'll give it back."

Lunch Lady narrowed her eyes, like she was considering Ember's words. "Salt is a very important part of food, you know. Salt and meat."

Ember quirked an eyebrow. "I thought too much salt is a bad thing. Same with too much fatty meat."

She _probably_ should have kept quiet. Lunch Lady's expression turned into a scowl, and she all but screeched, "Are you questioning my nutritional knowledge?"

Ember had met ghosts, but somehow, this lunch lady was more terrifying. Ember faltered and stammered, "Um, uh..."

She was saved by the large dirt explosion outside. Lunch Lady jumped and leaned forward, trying to look out the window with wide eyes. The salt container in her hand was in reach.

Ember snatched the salt from her and darted. Lunch Lady yelled at her, but Ember was already running away...toward the explosion she heard come from the track field outside. Somehow, she had a feeling that had something to do with Danny and that other ghost.

She emerged outdoors, and sure enough, Danny lay in a crater in the ground, looking worse for wear. Then Ember looked up at the enemy ghost and did a double take. Walker's body must have been left back inside the school, because the ghost wasn't possessing him anymore, which meant she could see his true, ghostly form.

Being near him set her hairs on edge and filled her with dull dread. He was glowing. His edges were blurry, like an old photograph. His skin was bright green and translucent, showing his skull underneath. He wore a suit that looked like it should have been black but was bleached white, and white sunglasses covered his eyes, although Ember had a feeling they were the same red shade that possessed-Walker had.

The ghost hovered over Danny's bruised form. Danny weakly pushed himself on his elbows, wincing all the way, and said, "Can't we talk about this, Operative?"

The ghost, Operative, retorted, "Sure, once you're in jail."

He aimed a hand at Danny, and Ember could tell he was about to attack. She ran toward him, shouted, "Hey! Want some salt with that?" and swung the salt at him.

Operative flinched--then blinked when the salt went through him without any effect. Ember faltered. "So...salt doesn't work."

"Salt?" Operative smirked. "I've heard about that. It has to be blessed to work against ghosts. And it must be pure salt, not table salt."

"Well, fuck," Ember muttered.

She shrieked and ducked out of the way as Operative ghost-blasted the spot where she stood. While she hit the grass, the ghost turned back to Danny and held him up by the neck. Danny was too weak to even struggle in his grip.

Just as Ember was beginning to lose hope, she saw Sidney enter her field of vision. Ember scrambled to her feet and joined him in running toward the ghost. "What did you get?" she asked.

Sidney, poor non-athletic nerd that he was, was panting too much from the process of sprinting as fast as he could to really talk, but he didn't need to. He stopped a short distance away from Operative and held up the object he brought for everyone to see: a reflective silver mirror.

Operative turned his head away from Danny for a moment to look at the mirror. "What is that? Do you want me to see my reflection?"

Ember was wondering about his plan, too. A mirror didn't sound very useful against ghosts. Even Sidney looked uncertain of himself, his knees knocking together in terror.

To his credit, he bravely ignored his fear and ran screaming at the ghost, swinging his mirror right down at him. She thought she saw the ghost's eyes widen at the last moment before he _disappeared_ right into the mirror, somehow sucked up by the silver. Danny fell on his butt as Operative was gone.

Ember picked up her jaw and asked, "What was that?!"

"I have no idea," Sidney admitted, still wide-eyed from the fact his plan worked. "I just remembered hearing some stories about silver working against werewolves and vampires and guessed it must do something about ghosts, too."

"That was brilliant," Danny said, smiling from his spot on the ground. He was bruised all over and had second degree burns on his palms, but other than that, he seemed fine.

Now that the big scary ghost was gone and Ember's heartbeat was settling, she crossed her arms at Danny and said, "You didn't answer my question from earlier. Danny Phantom?"

"Right," Danny said, reaching to rub his neck then stopping when that made him wince. "Ghosts don't usually use each others' real names. It's...personal, I guess. So everyone goes by a nickname."

"That's why you don't like us calling you Daniel Fenton," Ember said, remembering the way he flinched when he got called that in the graveyard and at Sidney's--the same way he flinched just now as she said that.

"Yeah," he said. "That ghost we just fought, Operative...well, he's lucky because no one even knows his real name. He worked with the government back when he was alive. Everyone just calls him by his title--or the Guy in White."

"That makes sense, considering how blindingly white his suit was."

Sidney suddenly yelped, and Ember turned toward him to see that he had dropped his mirror onto the ground. She looked down at it and understood why. A swirling fog appeared on its surface before it morphed into the Guy in White's face.

She jumped when the ghost brought a fist forward and at pounded at the mirror's surface--but the mirror didn't even vibrate, much less fracture. He continued to pound uselessly and growled, "You can't keep me in this relic forever. Just as you can't escape your punishment. You're upsetting the balance between life and death. You--"

Sidney crouched and flipped the mirror over so that its reflective surface was lying face down against the dirt. The Guy in White's voice was muffled.

Danny crawled to them and struggled to push himself up. Ember went to his side and helped him stand, and as soon as he did, she recoiled and asked, "Where did your bruises go?"

Most of them were gone, and she watched as the ones that did remain seemed to glow green before fading away. Ember stepped away from him, and he stayed stable on his feet. "Healing," he said. "Injuries aren't permanent to ghosts. I guess I kept that part of me when I got resurrected."

"You brought yourself back from the dead," Sidney said. Ember turned to him and saw him staring at the mirror he had just flipped over. "That ghost mentioned something about balance."

"Dude, the Guy in White is just ghost Walker," Ember said. "He probably comes up with any lame excuse to jail people."

"But maybe he has a point," Sidney argued, glaring at Ember--and at Danny. "What makes you special enough to get ressurected? Why not everyone else who died--like my parents?"

"Sid--"

"No, he's right," Danny said. He hung his head guiltily, gazing down at his hands. The burns on his palms seemed to take longer to heal. "This was a mistake. I thought I could get my parents' invention to work--and I did--but I didn't think about the consequences. Maybe they gave up on it for a reason."

Ember tilted her head. "So...what? You kill yourself again?"

Danny bit his lip and shrugged. "I...I don't know."

Ember glanced between him and Sidney, who was shuffling in place uncomfortably. She thinned her lips and stood straight. "Well, I'm not letting you do that," she said to Danny. "I don't care if you were dead before. You're alive now."

"Technically, I'm only half alive," Danny mumbled. "I still have some ghostly attributes, but..." He glanced uncertainly at Sidney.

Sidney fidgeted, then crossed his arms and sighed. "I guess...if you're human now...there's no point in going against that. You may as well enjoy your time back. I'll accept that. No need to kill yourself."

Danny's shoulders relaxed. Sidney still had his arms crossed, but he didn't look as angry anymore. The muffled voice of the Guy in White still came from the upside-down mirror on the ground.

Ember prodded the mirror with her foot. "So, what do we do with him?"

"Break the mirror?" Sidney suggested.

"No," Danny said. "Who knows if that would get rid of him. It might just release him again."

"I still don't get how he even got here," Sidney said.

Danny shrugged. "A portal? Though, it seems a little convenient that a natural portal would open up right after I got revived..."

"Or maybe he followed you back to the human world," Ember said.

"But he's not alive..." Danny's eyes widened. "Unless--"

He grabbed the mirror off the ground and began to run.

"Hey, where are you going?" Sidney shouted.

Danny turned back to face them. "My revival must have opened a permanent portal," he told them. "I'm going to send Operative back to the Ghost Zone, and I'm going to see my parents."

"A portal? But where?"

Danny met Ember's eyes, and he knew the same thought went through their heads. "My grave," he said. Then he turned around and kept running.

Sidney and Ember glanced at each other in bewilderment. Then Ember shouted, "Wait up!" and ran after Danny.

"Wait! But what about school!" Sidney shouted.

 _Fuck school_ , Ember thought. Ghosts, zombies, portals--ever since Danny entered her life, her days became exciting, and there was no way she was missing any second of this.


End file.
